CHAP. 102.—An ACT to amend and re-enact the charter of the
town of Waynesboro’.

Approved January 26, 1892.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That the whole charter of the town of Waynesboro’, in
the county of Augusta, approved February twenty-third,
eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, be amended and re-en-
acted so as to read as follows: The territory contained
within the limits of said town shall be as follows, to-wit:
Beginning at the corner of the corporation line of Basic
City, at the northern boundary line of the right of way of
the Chesapeake and Ohio railway, in the middle of South
river, near the railroad bridge; thence in a southerly di-
rection with the corporate line of Basic City to a point in
the middle of South river; thence continuing with said
Basic City line four hundred and ninety-five feet to a
stake; thence with said line feet, crossing the Nor-
folk and Western railroad to its eastern boundary line;
thence in a southwesterly direction with the eastern boun-
dary line of the said Norfolk and Western railroad to a
point where Arch street, on the map of the Baker Springs
addition to Waynesboro’, crosses said line; thence north
with Arch street to South river, and crossing the river to
Fifth street, on the map of the Waynesboro’ company ;
thence westward along said Fifth street about thirty-eight
hundred feet to Poplar street, as shown on the map of the
West Waynesboro’ land company; thence with Poplar
street and continuing in a straight northerly direction to
north side of Staunton road; thence west with said road

feet to J. T. Smith’s line on eastern boundary;
thence in a northerly direction with said line —_ feet
to the northern boundary of the Chesapeake and Ohio
railway’s right of way; thence eastward with said boun-
dary line, or right of way, to the place of beginning; be-
ing same as the Basic City line from the New Hope road
to the point of beginning.

2. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That the town of Waynesboro’, in the county of Augusta,
as the same has been and may hereafter be laid off into lots,
streets, and alleys, shall be, and the same is hereby, made
a town corporate by the name of Waynesboro’, and by
that name shal] have and exercise all the powers, rights,
privileges, and immunities conferred upon towns of less
than five thousand inhabitants by the laws of the com-
monwealth of Virginia, so far as such laws do not conflict
with the provisions of this act.

3. That the administration and government of said town
shall be vested in a council of seven, who shall be electors
of said town, one of whom shall be designated for mayor,
and the remaining six for councilmen, to be chosen on the
fourth Thursday in May, eighteen hundred and ninety-
two, and every two years thereafter, by the qualified voters
of said town, after a notice of fifteen days preceding said
election shal] have been given. The registration of voters
in said town, and all elections for whatever purpose, shal]
be held as provided by law, after fifteen days’ notice, by
hand-bills or written notices, to be posted at ten or more
places within the corporate limits—said notices to he
posted by the town sergeant. On the first day of July
next succeeding any regular election for mayor and coun-
cilmen, the said mayor and councilmen shall qualify and
enter upon the discharge of their duties, and shall remain
in office until their successors are elected and qualified ac-
cording to law. Three members of said council and the
mayor, or four members, one of whom shall be elected
president pro tempore, shall constitute a quorum for the
transaction of business. In case any two or more persons
receive the same number of votes at any election for mayor
and councilmen, the succeeding council shall determine
by lot who shall be declared elected, and in case of a va-
cancy in the office of mayor or councilman by death, resig-
nation, or otherwise, the said council may fill said vacancy
in the office of councilman from the qualified voters of the
town, and in the office of mayor from the body of the coun-
cil or the electors of the town. The said council shall ap-
point a registrar, who shall register the qualified voters of
the town in the manner prescribed by law, and three judges
of election, who shall also be commissioners of election,
who shall discharge their duties in accordance with the
law for the government of judges and commissioners of
elections. One of said judges may also act as the clerk
of election. ,

4. The mayor, as chief magistrate of the corporation, shal]
have all the powers, rights and privileges such office con-
fers in the general law, governing towns of less than five
thousand inhabitants; and in civil cases that may arise
within the corporate limits, he shall have and exercise all
the powers vested in justices of the peace by the laws of
the state. The said mayor shall be the president of the
council, and as such he shall preside in all their meetings.
The mayor or any three members may call a special ses-
sion of the council. In case of a tie upon any question
that may be before the council for consideration, the
mayor shall have the casting vote. Any member of the
council being absent from three regular meetings of the
council, may be removed from the same by the vote of
four members thereof, and the place filled according to the
provisions of this charter.

5. The council shall, at their first meeting, and every
two years thereafter, elect from their own body, or the
qualified voters of the town, a secretary and treasurer. It
shall be the duty of the secretary to keep a fair and just
record of the proceedings of the council, and to publish,
in such manner as the council may indicate, the ordinan-
ces and by-laws that may, from time to time, be passed,
for which services he shall have such compensation as the
council may determine to be right and proper. The said
treasurer shall receive and keep all moneys and other
funds, belonging to the corporation, and pay out the same
on the order of the council, drawn by the mayor and
attested by the secretary. The said treasurer shall be re-
quired to give bond, with approved security, in such penalty
as the council may determine, payable to them and thei!
successors for the benefit of the town, and shall publish
a statement of all his receipts and disbursements at the
end of each fiscal year. Said treasurer shall collect all
taxes due the said town.

6. The said council shall also, at their first meeting, and
every two years thereafter, elect a sergeant, who shall hold
office two years, or until his successor is elected and quali.
fied. The said sergeant shall be a conservator of the
peace, and in civil cases that may arise within the cor-
porate limits; he shall be vested with all the powers the
laws of the state confer upon constables, and his juris-
diction as a police officer shall extend one mile beyond
the corporate limits, buf not within the corporate limits
of the town of Basic City. He shall possess the like
rights of distress and powers in collecting corporation
taxes, service of process and return thereof, arising under
authority of this act, and all laws made in pursuance of
it, and shall be entitled to like fees and commissions as
are allowed by the laws of the commonwealth, to the col-
lectors and constables thereof, for similar duties and
services. Said sergeant shall execute bond, with approved
security, in such penalty as the council may deem proper,
payable to them and their successors in office, for the ben-
efit of the town, conditioned for the faithful performance of
his duties, and payment over to them and their successors
of all moneys and funds collected and received by him in
virtue of his office. And he and his securities, and his
and their executors, and so forth, shall be subject to such
proceedings, by motion or otherwise, before the county or
circuit court of Augusta county, for the enforcement of
the payment of such moneys and funds by him collected,
or could have collected, and received as aforesaid, at the
suit or motion of said mayor or other person entitled so
to do; or said motion may be made to the mayor or coun-
cil of said town. The said council may, by a two-thirds
vote, remove the said sergeant from office for incompetency,
misconduct, or negligence of duty, and elect another to fill
the unexpired term.

7. That said town and taxable property and persons
therein, shall be exempt and free from the payment of
any county road tax or poor rates, and from contributing
to any county expenses for any year, in which it shall
appear that said town shall, at its own expense, provide
for its own poor, and keep the streets and roads in order.

8. That for the purpose of maintaining the police regu-
lations of said town, under the authority of this act, the
jurisdiction of the corporate authorities shall be, and the
same is hereby, made to extend one mile in a direct line,
from the corporation limits, except that it shall only
extend to the corporate lines of Basic City, in those direc-
tions.

9. That the said council shall appoint, annually, three
assessors who shall be freeholders in and electors of said
town, and whose duty it shall be, during the month of
February in each year, to assess the value of all real es-
tate in the corporate limits; and one of said assessors
shall be designated by the council, whose duty it shall be,
during the month of February in each year, to assess the
value of all personal property in said town, which assess-
ment, shall form a basis of taxation. The said council
shall also have power to levy and collect annually, a tax
on all real and personal property so assessed in said town,
and on such other subjects as are or may be taxed by the
revenue laws of the commonwealth, and also a poll or
head tax, and a tax on dogs owned or kept in the corpor-
ate limits: provided, however, that said council shall not
have the power to levy or collect any tax upon any sub-
ject Which is assessable by the board of public works. The
said council shall have power to require a license to be
taken out in any purguit, calling, business, occupation,
profession or other purpose for which the state laws re-
quire or may require a license-tax, and also on shows and
other public exhibitions within one mile of the corporate
limits, but said power shall not extend into the corporate
limits of the town of Basic City; this shall not effect the
corporate limits of Basic City: provided that the tax on
realty and personal property shall not exceed in any one
year, seventy-five cents on the one hundred dollars value
thereof; that the poll tax shall not exceed fifty cents on
each male person over twenty-one years of age and in
any one year.

10. The said council shall have authority to impose a
special] tax or license on all persons doing a regular busi-
ness in the town and who reside or whose place of busi-
ness is without the corporate limits: provided such spe-
cial tax shall not exceed, in any one year, the sum of ten
dollars, and that the payment of such special tax, shall
not exempt such person or persons from the payment of
any regular tax imposed on said business within the cor-
porate limits. A special tax may be levied of one dollar
on dogs, and two dollars and fifty cents on bitches.

11. That all persons in pursuit of any trade, calling,
occupation, or profession, and residing in the corporate
limits on the first day of May of any year, shall be liable
to taxation under this act; and all persons entering into
any trade or profession, and so forth, after the first day of
May in any one year, shall be liable to a pro rata rate of
taxation.

12. The said council shall have power and authority to
make all necessary provisions to prevent accidents by fire,
such as the purchase of fire engines, hooks and ladders,
and other fixtures useful for such purpose. They shall
have power to provide the town with water, by means of
wells, pumps, and water-works, or in any way by them
deemed to be for the best interest, comfort and safety of
the town, and for such purpose, may levy and collect a
water tax, to be imposed on each head of a family or
other person using water from the town wells, springs, hy-
drants and other water fixtures; said water tax to be in
proportion to the amount of water used by each family or
person using water from the town wells, hydrants, and so
forth, and power to light the town with gas, oil or elec-
tricity. They shall have power to provide for the inter-
ment of the dead, and to regulate the same. They may
also establish a market and make ordinances for the man-
agement thereof. They shall have power to open new
streets and alleys, and to widen, grade, pave, and improve
existing streets, sidewalks, alleys, gutters and bridges,
and for such purpose, may levy and collect a special ‘road
tax not to exceed fifteen cents on the one hundred dollars
value of taxable property. They -shall have power to
prevent the obstruction of streets, alleys, sidewalks, gut-
ters, and so forth, by the hitching of horses, standing of
wagons, or in any way whatever, by imposing a reasonble
fine for such offences. They may also punish by fine,
the firing of guns or pistols, the setting fire to powder and
other combustible or explosive material, the running and
fast driving of horses and other animals on the streets
and alleys, and all else detrimental to the peace and good
order of the town. They shall have power to prescribe
rules for the orderly building of houses and their proper
location, such as stables, water-closets, hog-pens, cattle
sheds, as well as dwellings, stores, and shops. They shall
have power to regulate the erection of chimneys, stoves
and stove pipes, and to abate and remove all nuisances
at the expense of those who occasion them. They shall
have power to prohibit all animals except milch cows,
‘from running at large and beyond their owners’ premises,
and to pass all by-laws and ordinances not contrary to
the constitution and laws of the commonwealth and of
the United States, which said council may deem necessary
for the carrying into effect such powers and privileges as
have or may hereafter be vested in them. They shall
also have power, before the mayor or acting mayor, to reg-
ulate the police, and to enforce all laws, by-laws and or-
dinances of the said: town, by a penalty not {exceeding
the penalties fixed by the commonwealth for like offences ;
said penalty or fine to be paid into the corporation fund.
They shall have power to amend or repeal any by-law or
ordinance, or remit any fine or taxes that may to them
seem proper and just. Any ordinance or by-laws may
be enforced by fine or imprisonment, or both, or in lieu of
fine, by labor in chain-gang, or otherwise, at the discretion
of the mayor.

13. For the violation of any police law, other than cap-
ital crimes and penitentiary offences, and for the violation
of any special law relating to said town, and not enume-
rated in this act, the said council shall have power to im-
pose fines and collect the same, not to exceed fines imposed
by state law for like misdemeanors, and may add to said
fines, imprisonment or hard labor, not to exceed the pun-
ishment imposed by the laws of the commonwealth for
like offences, and all such fines shall constitute a part of
the corporation fund.

14. The said council shall have power, whenever they
may deem it expedient, to have the sidewalks, footways,
and gutters along any street or alley in said town, of such
width as they may prescribe, properly paved and otherwise
suitably improved, altered, or repaired, as they may think
fit, at a proper cost to the owners or occupants of the said
lands or lots along the front side of which such footways,
sidewalks, and so forth, may extend; and to levy and col-
lect for that purpose a special tax on each of such lands
or lots, proportioned to the number of feet of the same,
which special tax shall be collected as taxes on real and
personal property are by this act directed to be collected:
provided that before any owner or occupant of any land or
lot in said town shall be required to make such pavement
at his own proper cost, or a tax levied on the game for
such purpose, there shall be on such land or lot a dwelling
or business-house not less than will average fifteen feet
square; and in all cases where the lessee or tenant shall
pay the expense of any such pavement or improvement,
the amount of said expense shall be an offset or credit
against a like amount of rent due or that may accrue.

15. All taxes, whether general or special, assessed upon
any property in said town under the provisions of this act,
are hereby declared to constitute a lien on such property ;
and if the sergeant, or other legally authorized collector,
has not been able, with due diligence, to collect the same
by the first day of December of the year in which the
same were assessed, he shall, at the first meeting of the
council thereafter, make return, upon oath, of the taxes
he has failed to collect, and the property upon which such
uncollected taxes were assessed, and thereupon the coun-
cil shall have the same remedy against the property of
said delinquents as this commonwealth has in similar
cases.

16. The said council may at any time extend the limits of
said town by ordering an election to be held for such purpose
in such manner as elections are usually held according to
Jaw, except a special registration shall be had, which said re-
gistration shall be closed five days before the day of elec-
tion, and only owners of real estate of the assessed value
(for taxation) of five hundred dollars or more within said
town and within the limits of the proposed extension,
shall be registered. The owner of the life estate shall be
preferred to the remainderman. All persons of eighteen
years of age and over, male and female, may be electors;
and if it appears that two-thirds of the registered voters.
under this section, in the said town, and also two-thirds
in the said proposed extension, have voted for such exten-
sion, then, and not otherwise, said council shall declare
the corporation limits extended, and accordingly proceed
to make an order, to be recorded on the records of said
town and in the clerk’s office of Augusta county, establish-
ing such extended limits, and accurately describing the
same; but neither the town of Waynesboro’ nor the town
of Basic City shall have the right to extend their corpo-
rate limits into the corporate limits of the other.

17. The said council shall have power to provide for the
order and quiet of the Sabbath; to punish drunkenness,
swearing, boisterous and noisy conduct; any interference
with religious worship, and any other offence against de-
cency and good morals, by proper penalties; and to prohibit
the sale of intoxicating drinks within the corporate limits
and one mile thereof: provided that any fine imposed on
a minor shall be paid by his parent or guardian: and pro-
vided, further, that the prohibition of the sale of intoxi-
cating drink shall not apply to the town of Basic City.

18. The said council shall have power to take private
property for public use: provided, they shall pay a proper
compensation for the same. If, however, the owner or
owners of such property object, or will not agree to receive
a proper price, the said council may proceed to condemn
such property, in the manner prescribed by the laws of
the commonwealth for condemnation of private property
for public use; and for this purpose the mayor’s court of
said town shall have the same jurisdiction as the county
court has for condemning land for road purposes within
the county.

19. The said council shall have power to regulate and
provide for weighing and measuring hay, wood, coal and
other articles sold or for sale in said town.

20. All fines, penalties and amercements, and other
moneys, raised and received by virtue of this act, and not
otherwise directed to be applied, shall be at the disposal
of said council for the benefit of the town. All officers
now holding office under this charter shall continue to
discharge the duties of their respective offices, until their
successors are elected and qualified.

21. The said council have shall power to fix and regulate
the compensation and salaries of officers, and the wages
paid for hire of teams, labor, and so forth.

22. All acts and parts of sections of any charter for said
town, heretofore approved, except special laws relating to
said town, and not enumerated in any charter act, are
hereby repealed.

23. The council may, in the name of, and for the use of
the town, contract loans, or cause to be issued certificates
of debt or bonds: provided no such certificates of debts or
bonds shall be issued, except by a two-thirde vote of the
council, endorsed by a majority of the freehold votes vot.
ing on the question; but such loans, certificates, or bond:
shall not be irredeemable for a period greater than thirty.
four years: provided, further, that said council shall not
contract said loans, or issue such certificates of debt o1
bonds, for the purpose of subscribing to the stock of any
company incorporated for a work of internal improvements
or other purposes, without being first authorized so to do
by three-fourths of the freehold voters of the town voting
on the question: provided, further, that in no case shal]
the aggregate debt of the town, at any one time, exceed
ten per centum of the assessed value of the property, real
and personal, within the town limits: and provided.
further, that the said council shall not endorse the bonds
of any company whatsoever, without the same authority.
All contracts for the erection of public improvements,
within the jurisdiction of the town council, shall be let
to the lowest responsible bidder; and notice shall be given
at least thirty days before the work is finally let, by ad-
vertisement in a newspaper published in the town or coun-
ty, and the party to whom said contract shall be let shall
give such bond as the council may require; but in no
event shall any contract be let to any member of the town
council, nor shall any member have any interest in such
contract. The council of said town may, in its discretion,
contract with any person or corporation to exempt the
property and capital invested, or to be invested, for manu-
facturing purposes within the corporate limits of Waynes-
boro’ from all corporation taxes for a period of not more
than ten years. All taxes and licenses collected in the
new addition during the next ten years shall be expended
in said new addition, and all taxes collected in the old
corporation during the same period shall be expended in
the said old corporation. This section shall not be so con-
strued as to prevent the council of said town from issuing
certificates of debt for necessary current expenses or for
sums of money provided for by annual taxation.

24. It shall not be lawful to sell, barter, or in any way
dispose of intoxicating liquors of any kind within the
corporate limits of Waynesboro’, or within one mile
thereof, except that this clause shall not affect, in any
way, the charter granted to Basic City, the one mile limit
being construed to mean in all directions other than that
incorporated as the town of Basic City; nor shall it be
lawful to solicit orders, or to receive orders, or to take
orders unsolicited, for the sale of liquors of any kind
within the corporate limits of Waynesboro’, nor shall any
seller of liquors receive money, or any other commodity,
in payment for any intoxicating liquors within said cor-
porate limits; nor shall it be lawful for any one to keep
liquors deposited in any place in said corporation, for sale,
barter or exchange, either directly or indirectly. Any
violation of this section shall be deemed a misdemeanor,
for which a fine may be imposed of not less than twenty,
nor more than five hundred dollars, and in the discretion
of the mayor, may be confined in the county jail for not
less than ten days nor more than six months. This sec-
tion, or any other section in this charter, shall not have
the effect to repeal chapter seventy-four of the acts of
eighteen hundred and eighty-one and eighteen hundred
and eighty-two, entitled ‘‘an act to authorize the voters
of Waynesboro’ and vicinity to decide by popular vote,
on the propriety of selling intoxicating liquors in certain
limits,” approved February ninth, eighteen hundred and
eighty-two.

25. The council of the town of Waynesboro’ may pro-
vide, by its ordinances, such rate of speed for railroad
trains running through its corporate limits, as may be
deemed proper for the safety of citizens and property.

26. This act shall be in force from its passage.